5.  The applicant was born in 1975 and currently lives in Babušnica. On 25 April 2005 he was formally certified as unemployed by the respondent State's authorities.
6.  The applicant was the President of the Babušnica branch of the Demo-Christian Party of Serbia (Demohrišćanska stranka Srbije) and a member of the Central Board (Glavni odbor) of the same political party.
7.  In August of 2002, during an election campaign, an article written by the applicant, entitled “A Despotic Mayor” (Nasilnički predsednik), appeared in issue no. 1, page 10, of a newsletter called Narodne lužnicke novine. In the relevant part, this piece read as follows:
“The citizens of the Municipality of Babušnica have not had a Mayor for quite some time now because the former Mayor [P.J.] has been expelled from JUL [a political party] and has thus lost his mandate by virtue of law ... Despite the official Opinion of the Ministry of Justice and Local Self-Government that he cannot continue being the Mayor in accordance with the Local Government Act ... [P.J.] ... considers it no sin to stay on ... [in this capacity] ... because he is ... indispensable for ... [the Municipality's] ... future development and prosperity ...
Why is [P.J.] pushing so hard to remain as the fictitious Mayor of Babušnica, committing at the same time, as he is, legal infractions amounting to crimes ... Perhaps he needs the position of Mayor to defend his personal integrity which has been seriously threatened by the criminal complaints filed against him, indicating that he had abused his authority as the Director of a State-owned company called Lisca in order to acquire enormous material gain? ... [P.J.] ... well knows that ... [as a former Mayor] ... his position as the Director of ... Lisca, where he is suspected of having committed certain criminal offences, would also be seriously jeopardised. He understands that ... [as an ordinary citizen] ... he would no longer ... [carry any weight] ... with the local [police chiefs and others] ...
Therefore, ... in his 'JUL euphoria', in line with the slogan “money talks” [para vrti gde burgija neće] and for his own existential needs, [P.J.] has continued with his near-insane spending of the money belonging to the citizens of the Municipality [sumanuto troši novac građana Opštine] on ... sponsorships ... [and] ... gala luncheons ... not understanding that his time is up and that his place is in the political dustbin ...”
8.  In response to the publication of this article, on 12 September 2002, the Mayor filed a private criminal action (privatna krivična tužba) against the applicant with the Municipal Court in Babušnica (“the Municipal Court”).
9.  On 11 June 2003 the Municipal Court found the applicant guilty of criminal defamation (kleveta) and ordered him to pay a fine in the amount of 15,000 dinars (“CSD”) plus CSD 11,000 for costs, which was at that time equivalent to approximately 400 euros (“EUR”) in all. The fine, however, was suspended and was not to be enforced unless the applicant committed another crime within a year of the judgment becoming final.
10.  In the operative part of this decision (u izreci presude) only the following text was found to amount to defamation, namely to be “untrue” and, as such, “harmful to the honour and reputation” of the Mayor (Mr P.J.):
“Therefore, ... in his 'JUL euphoria', in line with the slogan “money talks” [para vrti gde burgija neće] and for his own existential needs, [P.J.] has continued with his near-insane spending of the money belonging to the citizens of the Municipality [sumanuto troši novac građana Opštine] on ... sponsorships ... [and] ... gala luncheons ...”
11.  In its reasoning, the court explained that the applicant had failed to prove the veracity of this statement or even that he had reasonable grounds to believe that it was true. Further, the use of the term “near-insane” (sumanuto) was deemed to imply the Mayor's mental illness. The court therefore held that the applicant's intent was not to inform the public but to belittle the Mayor. In conclusion, it noted that politicians have a special duty to communicate with each other and the public appropriately and stressed that a suspended sentence should “educationally influence the defendant so as to avoid committing ... similar crimes” in the future.
12.  Concerning the remainder of the impugned article, however, the court ruled that it was not written with intent to disparage the Mayor and was thus a legitimate way of expressing one's political opinion, in accordance with Article 96 of the Criminal Code (see paragraph 27 below).
13.  On 8 October 2004 the judgment of the Municipal Court was upheld on appeal by the District Court in Pirot (“the District Court”) and thereby became final. The District Court fully accepted the reasons given by the Municipal Court and added that, below the article at issue, there had been only the applicant's name and surname and no indication that it had been written by the President of the local branch of the Demo-Christian Party of Serbia.
14.  On 8 February 2005 the Mayor filed a separate civil complaint for damages with the Municipal Court, alleging that he had suffered mental anguish as a result of the publication of the impugned article. The Mayor sought CSD 500,000 in compensation, which was at that time equivalent to approximately EUR 6,252.
15.  On 18 March 2005 the Municipal Court ruled partly in favour of the Mayor and ordered the applicant to pay CSD 120,000 in compensation, together with default interest plus costs in the amount of CSD 39,000, which was at that time equivalent to approximately EUR 1,970 in all.
16.  The applicant's argument that the Mayor, being an elected politician, had to accept criticism and display a greater degree of tolerance was dismissed, as was his reference to the relevant international standards (see paragraph 39 below). In so doing, the Municipal Court found: (i) that the applicant had already been convicted of defamation within the criminal proceedings; (ii) that the Mayor could be criticised but that such criticism had to be “constructive, argued and within the limits of decency”; (iii) that, in any event, criticism could not consist of untrue statements which “deeply offend” one's “honour, reputation and dignity”; and (iv) that the honour, reputation and dignity of the Mayor, as an elected official and Director of a very successful local company, “had more significance than ... [the honour, reputation and dignity] ... of an ordinary citizen”.
17.  On 24 May 2005 the District Court rejected the applicant's appeal, except for the part concerning costs, which were reduced to CSD 24,200, at that time equivalent to approximately EUR 295. This court, further, noted that the applicant had relied on, inter alia, Article 10 of the Convention but then went on to repeat, in substance, the detailed reasoning of the Municipal Court, as described above. Finally, the District Court, added, as in the earlier criminal proceedings, that below the published article there had only been the applicant's name and surname and no indication that it had been written by the President of the local branch of the Demo-Christian Party of Serbia. In any event, the statements made by the applicant were untrue and his intent was to belittle the Mayor, rather than to inform the public or draw the attention of the authorities “to their obligations”. The compensation as well as the costs awarded would appear not to have been paid as yet.
18.  Page 1 contained a statement by Mr M.L., at that time a candidate in the presidential elections supported by a number of allied political parties, including the Democratic Party and the Demo-Christian Party of Serbia. Page 1 also contained Mr M.L.'s short biography.
19.  Page 2 contained an appeal by the Democratic Party. It invited the public to support the newsletter which was needed, inter alia, in order to counter the Mayor's self-promotion in other locally printed media.
20.  Page 5 contained an open letter, addressed to the Babušnica police department, signed by the applicant in his capacity as the President of the municipal branch of the Demo-Christian Party of Serbia.
21.  Page 6 contained photographs and campaign slogans in support of Mr M.L.
22.  Most other pages also carried articles concerning various political issues and the newsletter itself was handed out free of charge.
23.  On 23 May 2002 the Ministry of Justice and Local Self-Government informed the Municipality of Babušnica that, in accordance with the relevant legislation, a councillor's mandate in the Municipal Assembly (odbornički mandat) must be terminated if the councillor in question is expelled from the political party on whose list he was elected. The Ministry explained that the same provisions should also be applied in the Mayor's case.
24.  On 16 September 2002, in a letter sent to the applicant, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that, as of 1996, they had been looking into a number of complaints indicating that the Mayor had abused his authority as the Director of a State-owned company called Lisca. Additional investigation had also been undertaken in response to the criminal complaints filed by the tax authorities (finansijska policija) and reports concerning each of these have since been forwarded to the competent public prosecutors.
25.  On 18 December 2002 the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia sent a letter to the applicant's political party. Therein it stated that in 2000, 2001 and 2002 several criminal complaints, all of which concerned Lisca, were filed against the Mayor. Those lodged with the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Pirot were still being investigated by the local police while the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office in Babušnica, having initially dismissed the criminal complaint, had also subsequently decided to reopen the investigation into the Mayor's conduct.
26.  Finally, on 19 June 2003 the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the applicant's political party, that all of their findings concerning Lisca had been sent to the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Pirot.